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© 2026 Solicitors Journal in partnership with the International In-house Counsel Journal | ISSN 0038-1047 | Picture Credits: Freepix, Unsplash and by permission of the authors
Seamus Burns

Seamus Burns

Senior Lecturer in Law, Sheffield Hallam University

About Teaching Other activities Postgraduate supervision About In 2000 I was commissioned by the then Postgraduate Medical Dean for the South Yorkshire and Humberside Deanery, (Professor Chris Welch), to set up a Medical Ethics and Law Course for Specialist Registrars, (SpRs) on the SpR Generic Curriculum. After this successful 3 day pilot, I was then commissioned to deliver the Medical Ethics and Law Course to SpRs in the Deanery. I have been successfully delivering the Medical Ethics and Law Course since 2000, and currently deliver 5 of these 3 day courses to a range of specialist hospital physicians and surgeons. I set up, and have organised for the past 20 years, the Annual Law and Medicine Guest Lecture Series in 1993, now in 2012/13 in its 20th year. This year a consultant in human reproductive medicine and a retired transplant surgeon delivered lectures to our students. I set up and have been organising for the past 14 years the Annual Law of Evidence Guest Lecture Series. Assisted Reproduction, abortion, consent, medical negligence, euthanasia, assisted suicide, persistent vegetative state, organ transplantation, allocation of resources, human rights, confession evidence, identification evidence corroboration/care warnings, hearsay evidence, burdens and standards of proof, competence and compellability, parliamentary supremacy, devolution, public order, rule of law, separation of powers.

Articles

Humanity and common sense prevail in frozen sperm ruling
Solicitors Journal

Humanity and common sense prevail in frozen sperm ruling

Allowing a woman time until she's ready to have her dead husband's children is a triumph for ethics, says Seamus Burns
14 Apr 2014
Kettling is only lawful in exceptional circumstances
Solicitors Journal

Kettling is only lawful in exceptional circumstances

A Court of Appeal decision demonstrates the difficult balancing exercise the courts must carry out between upholding the right to protest and maintaining public order,...
11 May 2012
Seeds of change
Solicitors Journal

Seeds of change

With the number of sperm and egg donors falling, let's hope the forthcoming public consultation in this field prompts drastic changes to the rules on...
11 Oct 2010
Seats of power
Solicitors Journal

Seats of power

The coalition government has put constitutional reform and the protection of civil liberties right at the heart of the parliamentary agenda. Seamus Burns explains the...
24 May 2010
Older and wiser
Solicitors Journal

Older and wiser

Would-be mothers should be assessed for IVF treatment individually and according to merit – not age, argues Seamus Burns
9 Feb 2010
Fearful symmetry
Solicitors Journal

Fearful symmetry

When it comes to decisions about withdrawing life-sustaining treatment for children, consensus and common sense are a better process than court intervention, says Seamus Burns
24 Nov 2009
A fighting chance
Solicitors Journal

A fighting chance

The Lisbon Treaty is potentially hugely significant to the constitution and the UK electorate should have been given the chance to approve it, says Seamus...
3 Nov 2009
The right direction?
Solicitors Journal

The right direction?

The recent case of the young woman who refused treatment after fatally poisoning herself should be regarded as a sign of respect for patients' autonomy,...
20 Oct 2009
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